Data-guided decisions permeate our everyday lives as individuals, but how can you harness that power for your association and your members? The field of data analytics and big data is exploding with opportunity. Businesses are encroaching on the areas that used to be the private domain of associations – content, networking, events, etc. – because they are employing the power of analytics. But now, the process and tools needed to analyze and interpret data are much less expensive and easier to use than before. Are you ready to have a conversation with your data? Each level of business intelligence has a unique language to make your data speak!

Although the term "Business Intelligence" is so overused that it is almost meaningless, what is important to know is that advances in data science and analytics are affecting everyone - every day. Tableau outlines important trends in this field for 2013. What do these trends mean to your association?

5 Steps to Visualize Association Data

Big Data, business intelligence, analytics…..these terms have been buzz words headlining most association conferences this past year. When DSK presented at the ASAE Tech Conference last December, 80% of respondents to our straw poll noted their #1 question was “How do I get started with BI?” DSK has defined 5 Steps that form a framework for analytics and business intelligence initiatives for associations:

DSK Solutions, Inc. received Avectra’s AUDC 2013 Innovation Award for an outstanding business intelligence (BI) project created for the Association for Financial Professionals (AFP). AFP’s sister company gtnews needed to meet contractual obligations for reporting statistics to sponsors. AFP’s Director of Data Research, Galina Kozachenko, envisioned a BI solution and turned to long time collaborators DSK to execute and enhance the project. DSK created new data marts and developed C# applications to manage the separate data sources. They recommended Tableau software to build dashboards and reports with superior data visualization capabilities.

Data is one of the most important assets an association has because it defines each association’s uniqueness. You have data on members and prospects, their interests and purchases, your events, speakers, your content, social media, press, your staff, budget, strategic plan, and much more. But is your data accurate and are you using it fully? Your data is an asset and should be carefully cultivated, managed and refined into information which will allow you to better serve your community and ensure you remain viable in today’s competitive landscape.

Sometimes when an organization begins a business intelligence initiative (BI) they are so excited about data visualization and data transparency in the form of dashboards that the first thing they want to do is start measuring everything. I believe that strategy comes before measures and those organizations that thoughtfully and purposefully align what they are measuring to their strategic plan achieve more meaningful long-term results from their BI initiative.